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Kaamil Haider

Ibrahim ibn Adham was asked once “Why is it that we ask and our petitions are not granted, although The Most High has said, ‘Call upon me, I will answer you?” This already indicates the lack of knowledge of their question because God only has the fixed power to answer the prayers, and not necessarily our prayers. In addition, God postpones some of our prayers till the Day of Judgment. However, when you call upon God, the invitation you are sending has to be sincere and utmost desiring. That is why ibn Adham replied, “Because your hearts are dead” (Ghazali, 267). Dead spiritual hearts are shunned from the blessings and nurturing of God: “Their hearts are sealed up, so they understand not”(Qur’an, 9:87).

The core of any spiritual person concerns with that of the heart. It has, therefore, been an absolute and traditional point of discussion for generations in the Islamic teachings’ history. Various verses in the sacred book of Muslims, Qur’an, pertain to the heart: (They say): “Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower”(Qur’an, 3:8). This ‘heart,’ we speak of, is the spiritual

heart and not per se the physical organ. Abu ‘Abdullah al-Nu’man bin Bashir (ra) narrates that the prophet Muhammad (phuh) said: “… Beware, in the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and behold, it is the heart.” Therefore, this heart is inevitably susceptible to spiritual diseases.

As many people in the antiquity were concerned with diseased spiritual hearts, so were Muslim teachers. And Allah has warned us of diseased hearts in the Islamic scripture: So, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allâh!(Qur’an, 39:22). According to the commentators of the Qur’an, remembrance is meant hereby, not only remembering God in spirit, but also acknowledging His duty upon us as believers of the scripture. We remember God by praying to Him to completely submit ourselves to Him, honor, respect, and seek His pleasures and help. So what causes a prayer not to be answered back to us?

Ibrahim ibn Adham was asked once “Why is it that we ask and our petitions are not granted, although The Most High has said,

‘Call upon me, I will answer you?” This already indicates the lack of knowledge of their question because God only has the fixed power to answer the prayers, and not necessarily our prayers. In addition, God postpones some of our prayers till the Day of Judgment. However, when you call upon God, the invitation you are sending has to be sincere and utmost desiring. That is why ibn Adham replied, “Because your hearts are dead”(Ghazali, 267). Dead spiritual hearts are shunned from the blessings and nurturing of God: “Their hearts are sealed up, so they understand not”(Qur’an, 9:87).

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, a scholar from Zaytuna Institute, said with regard to this question, “When you call on Allah, it is like an invitation, but every invitation has certain aspects that make it appealing” (Yusuf, Love Has Conditions). Put it differently; there are certain conditions you need to follow in order to make the invitation appealing. He argues that these conditions are throwing out with prayers of an oppressed person, even if that person is of other belief.

This is true as God is just and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) mentioned that there is no barrier between an oppressed person and God, despite his or her belief. So how do we make our invitations or prayers to God appealing?

He was asked “What killed them?” He answered, “Eight bad habits.”

NOTE: Some scholars make it up to ten, but as recorded in The Revival of the

Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn) by Imam Hamid Al-Ghazali, there are only eight mentioned in his 21st book, The Marvels of the Heart (Kitab Sharh ‘Ajaib al-Qalb).

Ibn Adham said that, one, “You know Allah’s rights over you but have not done your duty towards Him.” This is one of the first thing that makes our spiritual hearts dead. The rights of Allah over us are consistently  mentioned in our sacred book and in the narrations of the prophet. In his Love Has Conditions lecture, Shaykh Yusuf points out an interesting example of this: “The lover is obedient to the beloved. That is the nature of love. If you have someone who claims that they love you, and they never do what you ask, then you should know that there is a false claim.” We say that we love Allah, but are our actions as Muslims in line with Allah’s rights? How

can we say that we love Allah but we kill, indulge in vice habits, break intimate connections with our relatives and friends, and or never feed or cloth the poor? How often do we remember God throughout our days? Allah mentions in the Qur’an that “Those who remember Allâh standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): “Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! (Qur’an, 3:191).

He proceeded to say “You have read the Quran but have not acted according to the limitations it has imposed.” We have adorned our houses, offices, and masjids with Qur’anic verses, but do we adhere to the laws that come with those revelations? Now we have gone beyond those venues and moved the sacred verses to bumper sticks. Among the Muslim traditions, it used to be that the sacred book and its containing verses were supposed to be elevated from any object and never lowered to the ground and dust. The bumper stick is a symbolic version of how our hearts are dead because if we knew the meaning of these verses and the high standards it is held by the prophet and Allah, we would have changed our course: “ Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty Word”(Qur’an, 73:5). There are immense laws that God revealed to us in the Qur’an, but do we take heed of these laws? We have come to love man-made laws so much that we are willing to follow political candidates from the time they are not in office till they are, and then be able to find excuses anytime they break the law. Manmade laws are open game, but Allah’s laws stand firm and are consistent through our years of life. In addition, we are enthusiastic to speeches, long speeches, by these politicians that we are eager to leave work early or watch reruns all day long. When have we cultured the laws in the Qur’an and actually followed those laws to the letter? We will pay our federal and state taxes on time, but do we even know how much or the types of zakkah we are supposed to pay that are, indeed, mandatory?

Ibn Adham continued saying that “You have said, ‘We love the Messenger of Allah’ but you have not followed his law.” One of the manners of the prophet used to be that he would greet everyone who came in his sight, not only greet but smile concurrently. He was a chivalrous and gentle man that of his sight many people have fallen in love with him, man and woman, because he showed this appealing and desiring face and manners at all times. As Muslims, our second rated source of finding spiritual guidance, after the Qur’an, is the prophetic traditions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Furthermore, God said to him to tell us that “If you (really) love Allâh then follow me, Allâh will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”(Qur’an, 3:31). Beyond our universal reasons as our prophet, even God commands us to love the prophet if we really love Allah indeed. Those who followed and loved him, Allah granted them a lofty and superior status both in this life and hereafter. At the end of the day, we all want to talk, behave, and become the beloved of Allah just as prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was. The 13^th century poet Rumi once wrote in a poem that “Abu Jahl saw Prophet Muhammad and said: “What an ugly son of a bitch!” Prophet Muhammad replied: “You’re rude, but you’re right.” Abu Bakr saw Prophet Muhammad and said: “You’re the beautiful shinning sun!” Prophet Muhammad said: “You’re right, my friend. You’ve seen through.” Someone listening to this asked: How can they both be right when they are contradicting each other? Prophet Muhammad said: “ I am a mirror polished by Allah.In me everyone sees themselves.”

The fourth reason that our hearts are dead, according to ibn Adham, is “You have said, ‘We fear death’ but you have not prepared for it.” The only disease we have not found cure for thus far is death; even Aids has cure, but we will assume in our ignorant state of mind that politics has no place in the health department. To fear death means that you work towards good deeds while you are alive. In other statements beautifully and concisely put by ibn Adham, he said “That I observed the creation and saw that everyone had a loved one and one passionately desired whom he loved and longed for. Some of the beloved accompany the lover up to the brink of sickness and death and other to the gate of the graveyard. All of them return and leave him there alone. No one goes into the tomb with him. I looked into the matter and said to myself: “The best beloved is that which would enter the tomb with the lover to console him”; I found it to be nothing else than good works, so I took this as my beloved, to illuminate my grave for me and to comfort me in it and not leave me alone.”

The fifth reason, he said, is that Allah has said, “Verily Satan is to you a foe, so take him as a foe.” (35:6), but you have agreed with him upon acts of disobedience.” Answering this statement in other writings, ibn Adham said “That I saw people becoming enemies of each other for different reasons. I meditated upon the saying of Allah the Exalted: Verily, Satan is an enemy to you; so treat him as an enemy (Quran, 35:6). I became aware that enmity with anyone except Satan was not permissible.” In the lyrics of Positive Vibrations by the legend singer Bob Marley, he sang “If you get down and you quarrel everyday, You’re saying prayers to the devils, I say.” Any time we join in disrupting and destructing the laws of Allah, society, and environment you are engaging the Satan and thus leading you to a state of heedlessness with a dead heart: “Verily, the (human) self is inclined to evil, except when my Lord bestows His Mercy (upon whom He wills). Verily, my Lord is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”(Qur’an, 12:53).

He further said that “You have said, ‘We fear the fire’, and constrained your bodies to enter it.” As it is narrated in the hadiths of the prophet, the hell is surrounded by enticements of bad deeds such as lying, fornication, backbiting, not praying or fasting. If there is no test at all in this world, what is its use of existence then? We can all start to stop certain things to be good. The cardinal rule of anything that is bad is when we are doing something and we do not want others to see us.

In opposition to the sixth reason, ibn Adham said that “You have said, ‘We love the

Garden’, but have not labored to gain it.” The only difference is that in this reason he is talking with regards to heaven. And unlike hell, heaven is adorned with things that the soul detests such as waking up early in the morning to pray, paying zakkah, fasting, accompanying yourself with good people, and basically anything that is good but people do not like doing because it does not earn them a higher status in this life, they think.

The final reason that our hearts are dead is “When you have risen from your beds, you have cast your faults behind your backs and spread the faults of other men before your faces.” In other words, this is hypocrisy. Now, he said, “You have angered your Lord, so how can He answer your prayers?”

In order to have a good family, individuals have to be prepared. We know that good man and woman make a good family, if the two or one of them is not prepared both Islamically and academically, they will not be able to establish a strong family and mostly likely this family will collapse before even children are born. By the same token, if one of them has a strong foundation

of what to make a good family, while the other one is not, the family will most likely face a divorce after some years; and children will be the most effected in this process more than parents. The two individuals are disproportionate to each other; do not have the strong foundation of what makes a good family.

Moreover, when there are no strong and well balanced individuals, family will not be possible, so when there is no good and strong families, there will never be strong and good community, and when there is no good and strong community, there will never be a strong and good society. We have deep social problems, which started years of lack of proper education with ethical and civic accountability. In order to respond this deep social problems effectively, we have to start from the basics. We have to start education from the individual level in order for us to have good society.

The reason is that many people want to make our society better, while they are not even able to make family for themselves. They cannot make family, nor community, let alone a society, because they are not constructively prepared as individuals who are capable to make that change. We need a constructive plan that starts our young people, who is physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially fit. Two solid individuals can produce a family who displays compassion, love, respect, tolerance, and understanding by practicing Islamic values. Two solid families will create strong community which leads to create a society where universal humanity, perseverance, cooperation, and unity are the norms

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